In The Theory of the Leisure Class, Thorstein Veblen coined a number of terms that have become terms of art: conspicuous consumption, conspicuous waste, pecuniary emulation, invidious comparison, and invidious distinction. He introduced the latter term as it pertained to different kinds of employment in a “higher barbarian culture”: …the distinction between exploit and drudgery […]

 – by New Deal democrat We are well into our data blackout, as no federal economic data whatsoever was released this week. Even sites that functioned in previous shutdowns, such as the Treasury Department’s “Daily Treasury Statement,” have been taken offline. This is simply not the way a functioning country works. So let me conclude this […]